Friday, March 23, 2018

The number of battery vendors at this year's NABCEP solar professionals conference was noteworthy as was the introduction of Morningstar's soon to be released 48V battery-based 4K inverter lineup. The emphasis on battery-based direct current systems was ironic, given the location was Niagara; well known as the place where modern utility-scale alternating current had its debut. Mr. Edison would have been pleased.

One observation frequently made was that the solar industry, after years of being dominated by battery-less grid-interactive systems, is now seeing its future closely aligned to battery storage systems.

Lithium battery manufacturers present included Hawaii's Blue Planet, Germany's Sonnen and Vancouver's Discover AES. I am frequently asked about lithium alternatives to lead-acid batteries which have been the mainstay of off-grid and backup systems for years. In short, the technology is here, but any adopter may be on the bleeding edge as systems have a steeper entry cost and an unproven track record. Could be good, though!

Something else that could be good is the new 4-kW 48V inverter from Morningstar. This is a company that has built a really nice line of solar charge controllers over the last 25-years. I've used their PWM and MPPT equipment on both solar and microhydro systems. This is their first "whole-house" or big inverter. Notable among the features include:

18W idle loss (this is way low - like 47% lower than an Outback FXR unit)

About This Blog

I own/run/empty-the-trash for PIMBY Energy, LLC. Renewable energy is my bread and butter. This blog is simply a good place for me to share some of the day to day photos and ideas that I run across in my work.